


The Night We Met

by also_bughead



Category: Archie Comics, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 22:48:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11701467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/also_bughead/pseuds/also_bughead
Summary: Betty killed Jason Blossom.





	The Night We Met

“Betty wouldn’t do that. Betty _couldn’t_ do that.”

“She’s on the video, Jughead,” Veronica whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I wish it weren’t true, too.”

“I want to see it,” Jughead said, snatching the flash drive from Veronica’s hand, storming across the small living room of his father’s trailer toward Archie’s laptop, which sat open on the coffee table.

“Jug, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Archie tried to block him, but Jughead tore past him, plugging the device into the empty USB port. He sat on the edge of the shabby couch, elbows resting on his knees as they bounced up and down at a rate as rapid as the pounding of his heart.

In the grainy footage, Jason Blossom could be made out, sitting in the corner of the room, tied to what looked like a bar chair. The time stamp indicated it was 3 AM, the wee hours of July 11th. He was severely bruised, and the dried blood on his shirt indicated wounds. Just like his autopsy reported, he had been tortured from the Fourth of July up until his point, presumably by Serpents -- Serpents his father was covering for in Riverdale’s town jail.

The door opens, and in walks a very stiff Betty. The first thing he saw, sticking out like a sore thumb, was the pistol in her right hand, and his heart sinks into his stomach. The second thing his eyes land on is her left hand, clenching tightly, not doubt boring tiny, bloody dents into her skin. Her teeth are gritted, and he notices the sheen of sweat against her forehead.

Then, in behind her, steps none other than Clifford Blossom. He whispers something in her ear, and her hand unclenches, a single tear falling down her cheek, as she raises the gun, shooting Jason right between the eyes.

She lets out a small sob, then her expression goes blank, like she’s left herself. Clifford pats her shoulder, and a burly looking Serpent guides her out. Then, someone throws a sheet over the camera.

“Jughead?”  Archie whispers, stepping closer to his best friend, trying to reach out to touch his shoulder, but Jughead flinches away from him. He stands, and his stomach heaves, threatening to empty its contents.

Betty, _his Betty_ , who he believed to be incapable of hurting even a fly, murdered Jason Blossom. Granted, he was sure that she was in some way coerced by Clifford Blossom, but she didn’t tell anyone. She even went about an investigation to find his killer, all the while knowing who was responsible. She must not have felt too bad. She probably wanted him dead, after what he’d done to Polly.

Jughead grabbed his keys, bolting out the door, all the while hearing Veronica and Archie calling for him to come back.

He wasn’t really sure where he was driving to until he ended up in front of her house. The little two-story house his girlfriend lived in was sweet, homey, but it held a lot of secrets. The way Betty’s family crumbled almost made Jughead grateful for his own; sure things were shitty, but at least no one was trying to put on an act. No one was pretending to be perfect. He knew what to expect.

He parked on the curb, turning off the engine and getting out, quietly making his way around back to the ladder by Betty’s bedroom window. It was a path he knew well, a path he’d made on many nights when he couldn’t sleep, or when she needed someone to help chase away the darkness.

He climbed up as carefully and quietly as he could, knowing that her parents were likely asleep. Once he got to the top, he stopped, seeing her asleep on her bed. She was on top of her covers, curled up into a ball. She looked so peaceful. He couldn’t imagine someone as beautiful and sweet as she was could possibly ever do what she did, even though he’d seen it with his own eyes.

She usually would leave the window unlocked for him, just in case, and he gently pushed up to confirm that it was, opening it as quietly as he could. He climbed in and crossed to where she slept, kicking off his shoes and lying down next to her.

She gasped suddenly, and he gently put an arm around her protectively.

“It’s okay Betts, it’s just me.”

She turned over, looking up at him with adorably sleepy eyes, snuggling into him. “Hey. Couldn’t sleep?”

“Something like that,” he murmured, lightly scratching her back through her pink tank top.

He wanted so badly to confront her. Needed to confront her. To demand answers about what happened July 11th. But he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Couldn’t bring himself to shatter the fantasy of Betty Cooper.

Of course, he’d known it was too good to be true. He’d known that the universe wasn’t about to let him be happy. Everyone he’d ever loved had let him down, and he knew deep down that Betty would, too, even if she didn’t mean to. But he never dreamed it would be anything like this.

They laid in silence for a few moments, and it was so quiet, Jughead swore he could hear their heartbeats synchronizing with each other, beating as one.

Fuck, he’d never be able to not love her.

“You killed Jason,” he whispered.

“What?” Betty sat up, her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. “Whatever gave you—”

“I saw the video, Betty,” he gently took his hand into his, “listen, if you’re in some sort of trouble, with the Blossoms, we can help you…”

“Juggie, what are you…?”

He sighed and closed his eyes. Her denial caused his temper to rise, and the hurt and betrayal he felt manifested itself in his anger.

“It’s all on video, Betty. _You_ did it. _You_ shot Jason. _You_ killed him. So please don’t lie,” he took in her blank expression, and it infuriated him even further. “I’m literally such a fucking idiot. That’s the whole reason you even showed interest in me, right? Cause you knew I was writing that book, and you wanted to make sure I didn’t suspect you, right? God, you really had me fooled, you know that? I was so happy, for the first time in so long. And it was all a lie. All of it. You never had any feelings for me. I can’t believe I fell for it. For you.”

“Juggie, I love you,” she whispered, placing her hands on his cheeks. It was the first time she’d ever uttered the words, though she’d meant them for a long time. “Juggie—” she tried to make him look at her, but he wouldn’t. Instead he coldly grabbed her wrists, moving her hands away.

Tears began to stream freely down her face. “I didn’t kill Jason! I couldn’t do something like that. No matter how he hurt Polly, I would never…”

She looked at his stoic expression and her mind wondered back to the night of “full dark, no stars”. To the things Veronica said she had done to Chuck, things she adamantly denied, things she truly believed she didn’t do. The most terrifying realization washed over her, causing her heart to jump into her throat and her chest and stomach to feel hollow. “You said there was a video?” she croaked out.

He looked at her panicked expression, and he understood.

Betty Cooper may have killed Jason, but she doesn’t remember pulling the trigger.

-

After the trial, it was obvious that Clifford Blossom was to blame for everything. He hoped that having someone else do the dirty work for him would cover his tracks, and for extra good measure he framed F.P. Turns out, on the morning of July 11th, he’d offered Betty ride home from her internship, knowing from Cheryl about her tendency toward spiraling. But instead of taking her home, he took her to the bar on the southside, where he had the Serpents push her and push her, saying and doing unspeakable things, until she snapped. When she came back to herself and had no recollection of what had happened, Clifford believed his plan to be foolproof. And if it weren’t for a lone security camera and some nosy kids, it would’ve been.

His exploits didn’t really serve their purpose; neither Jughead’s father or Betty ended up serving any time for their involvement in Jason Blossom’s murder and if anything, their involvement worsened his sentence, especially Betty’s, because she was so helpless in it all. She ended up being sent to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, because she was deemed a threat to herself and others.

The plan was to get her treated so she could rejoin society, but her guilt was overwhelming, causing the darkness inside to consume her, and it hasn’t released her since.

It took Jughead over four years to go visit her. He couldn’t bear to think of Betty, the first girl he ever loved, in a mental institution, all alone and scared of her own shadow, the way he’d remembered Polly being. But in the last six months he’d finally started to see a therapist, something he probably should’ve done when he was way younger, who suggested that he should see Betty, to give him closure on the whole situation. He suggested that the lack of closure was one of the main reasons Jughead, while he was twenty-years-old and practically a man, had been unable to maintain a healthy relationship since Betty. He believed that seeing her would help put it all to rest in his mind and in his heart.

“Listen, Jughead,” Alice Cooper turned to the raven-haired boy after she’d signed them into the Sisters’ visitor’s registry, “Betty is really sick. And not the kind of sick that we claimed Polly was to keep her away,” she swallowed. “She’s gotten worse over time, so they’ve got her on a lot of medications, to help with the mood swings and the disassociation, but it ends up making her really out of it. Almost catatonic, sometimes. She doesn’t even recognize me or Polly anymore when we come to visit, and she tried to assault Hal last time he was here. It’s part of the reason he doesn’t come around anymore. Just remember that, so if she doesn’t remember you or if she lashes out, just don’t take it personal, okay?” she patted his arm gently, tears beginning to well in her eyes and he nodded. “Okay, honey. I’m just gonna wait here, so you can have your time with her.”

He knew that wasn’t why she was staying behind. She was staying behind because it hurt to see her daughter like that. To see her waste away, unable to escape herself.

 “Thank-you, Mrs. Cooper,” Jughead said, before turning to follow a nurse down the long corridor and out the back door into a small garden.

 “She’s right over on that bench,” the nurse pointed in her general direction before disappearing back into the building.

When he saw her, he knew it was her, even though she wasn’t facing him. She was staring at a rose bush, still as he’d ever seen her.

He approached her cautiously. “Hey, Betty. It’s me, Jughead, from high school. Do you remember me?”

She didn’t respond, didn’t even acknowledge him. He sat down beside her, and watched the rose bush with her.

“It’s pretty,” he noted. “I’d love roses, if it weren’t for the thorns.” They sat in silence for several more minutes, before he sighed, “Okay, so listen, I’ve been going to therapy, which I know is a shock, and I’m surprised between you and Archie that I wasn’t forced into seeing a shrink like ten years ago… but anyway he thinks I need to talk to you. To get closure. So, I want you to know I don’t blame you for anything. The night I found out what had happened to Jason, I said a lot of really awful things I didn’t mean. And I should’ve known better. If you knew anything could even possibly hurt someone else, you’d never do it, at least not willingly. I should’ve known that.”

He stared out into the distance, past the rose bush and watched the fountain that ran nearby. “How is Archie, by the way?” he paused, as though he was waiting for her to answer, but of course, she didn’t. “You know, you probably see more of him than I do these days. Your mom told me he brings his guitar out here sometimes and plays for you. Says he’s one of the only people who can actually get you to smile.” Jughead felt a little twinge of guilt. Even though he knew that Archie didn’t have any romantic feelings for Betty, he knew he loved her a lot, he knew how much it must’ve hurt Archie to see her like this, too. He shouldn’t have left him alone in that. He definitely should’ve been there for Betty, but Archie needed him, too.

“I’m sorry I’ve never visited,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “And I can’t stop imagining that if I had just been there, maybe you could’ve gotten past this, and it eats me up inside, Betty. But it hurt too much. And I know that is so selfish, and I know I’ve never really told you this, but I loved you, Betty. And I still love you so goddamn much, and it just was too much, you know?”

 “I wish I could go back, Betty,” he whispered. “Not just to that night but back to when I met you and Archie. Do you remember? Good old seventh grade, when I transferred from the south side of town. It was right after I’d gotten out of juvie for playing with matches,” he laughed at the ridiculousness of it, trying to pin arson on a ten year-old, “my dad thought getting out of that part of town would be better for our family. And everybody thought I was so weird. But not you. You were the sweetest person I think I’ve ever known, even then. You sat with me at lunch, and you made Archie sit with me, too. I met my best friend because of, you know that? Honestly, I feel like I liked you since then. It may seem silly, and I definitely didn’t understand it all, but I wanted to be around you all the time. And then high school started and you started to get feelings for Archie so I stepped back, ‘cause I just wanted you to be happy. But I wish I hadn’t. I wish I had been there for you. Wish I’d known what you were going through, so that maybe I could’ve helped you, and maybe we wouldn’t be here right now. I mean who knows, maybe by this time in our lives me and you and Archie would all be off going to some college together, or on some crazy adventure somewhere.”

Jughead couldn’t tell which was lonelier: sitting on a couch with his therapist constantly responding to everything he said with a bland, “so how does that make you feel,” or sitting here, beside a woman who he used to know so well and loved so much and getting nothing.

“God, this is useless,” he croaked out, a lump forming in the back of his throat. He took off his beanie and buried his face in his hands to conceal the tears that were flowing from his eyes.

After a moment, he felt the slightest weight on his shoulder. He peered over to see Betty’s small hand resting on his shoulder. Her eyes were trained on his face, and though they were dazed, there was a tenderness in them that Jughead had missed seeing so much. The tears flowed faster.

After he’d managed to slow them down some, he gingerly took her hand into his, and gently brought to his lips, kissing it carefully, not wanting to scare her.

She looked deep in thought, and her eyebrows furrowed as she struggled with her speech, “J-J-Juggie.” A few tears began to fall from her own cheeks.

“Shh, it’s okay,” he whispered, letting their hands fall between them, still intertwined.

She let out a small smile, and Jughead knew that even though she was buried deep, way deep, the Betty he’d fallen in love with was still in there somewhere.

They spent the rest of their time together in silence, quietly holding hands, looking at the flowers and watching the birds and passersby, until visiting hours ended, and Jughead was forced to separate himself from her.

He never cried over anyone as much as he’d cried over Betty that night when he was in bed and alone with his thoughts.

He never thought it was possible to love someone as much as he loved her, so much that it literally hurt, like a hollowness in his chest where she used to be, where she was supposed to be. He prayed that maybe one day, she’d be able to fill it again.

 


End file.
